What is SIDS?
The sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of a seemingly healthy infant under one year of age is known as SIDS. The age at peak incidence is 2-4 months, with 90% of cases being less than…
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Munchausen’s: Criminal Implications
Munchausen’s Syndrome is considered a form of medical child abuse in terms of physical abuse and medical neglect. This type of abuse is considered to be pre-meditated. Medical providers are considered a mandatory reporting entity,…
Munchausen’s: The Offender
What the Caregiver Might Do to Mimic Illness in the Child: Adding chemicals to the child’s urine or stool Withhold food so the child looks like they are anorexic Make up lab results to be…
Munchausen’s: The Victim
According to the literature, boys and girls are equally victimized in Munchausen’s Syndrome, and 77% to 90% of the time, the perpetrator is the child’s biological mother. In addition, 29% of perpetrators have symptoms of…
Munchausen’s: Definition
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy was first described in 1951 by a British physician, but it was not until 1977 that the condition was labeled “Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy” by pediatrician Roy Meadow. The syndrome was…
Bruises: 5 Things Every Criminal Attorney Should Know
1. Dating bruises – bruises cannot be dated by color. IF yellow can be identified, one can determine that the bruise is at least 18 hours old. All other colors can be observed from the first…
FASD: Legal Implications
Individuals with FASD have difficulty with assessment, judgment, and reasoning, and often repeat the same mistakes multiple times because of their disabilities. They also do not understand the consequences of their actions. These behavioral impairments…
What are the effects of FASD?
The most serious and most common cause of mental retardation in the U.S. is fetal alcohol syndrome. The effects of FASD depend on the timing and frequency of alcohol consumption during the pregnancy. Some of…
FASD: Who is at risk?
If a woman drinks alcohol during her pregnancy, regardless of timing and amount, she is at risk of having a child with a FASD. Alcohol can affect an embryo before a woman knows she is…
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: What is it?
Prenatal alcohol exposure is the single leading preventable cause of neuro-developmental disorders (Zagorski, 2015). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a blanket term for a number of effects that can occur in an individual who was…
What to ask if you have a brain bleed case
Legal implications – civil: Non-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (stroke): For cases involving warfarin or Coumadin- was the patient’s lab work such as PT/INR adequately monitored? If the patient was suffering from Coumadin toxicity, what was the…
What are three main kinds of brain bleeding?
Types of hemorrhage Epidural hemorrhage is bleeding between the skull and outer covering of the brain, the dura matter. Epidural hemorrhages are frequently caused from a blunt trauma from an assault, fall or other accident. …
